ABSTRACT
The latest publication to address the question of the relationship between African ‘magic’ and ‘ritual action’ on the one hand and iron-working technology on the other, is that by van der Merwe & Avery (1987). We find the paradigm within which their work is set is unsatisfactory in their use of the opposition between productive techniques and magic as defined by Evans-Pritchard (1937). The problem is by no means new and there have been several recent and successful attempts to address the question in terms of symbolism (e.g. de Maret 1980; de Heusch 1982, pp. 180–93; Echard 1983b; Monino 1983; Herbert Forthcoming) in order to deduce some deeper social purpose behind apparent explanations for the production of iron.
